February 18, 2009

"When you look at vices from the point of view of the difficulties they create you find that men experiment in a different way from women."

Experiment? Is that what we're doing when we go wrong, experimenting?

[Msgr Wojciech Giertych, theologian to the papal household, wrote in L'Osservatore Romano that] the most difficult sin for men to face was lust, followed by gluttony, sloth, anger, pride, envy and greed.

For women, the most dangerous sins were pride, envy, anger, lust, and sloth, he added.

So the men struggle with all 7 sins, but somehow the women are not susceptible to — what? — gluttony and greed? My reaction to that? Well, first... it's time for a midmorning snack. Or 2!

34 comments:

Now, before anyone gets overly excited here, just a reminder that this kind of statement has no magisterial or doctrinal weight in Catholicism - it's basically an op-ed in the Vatican's newspaper. The guy's day job doesn't give his opinions any more authority than yours or mine.

The pope needs to spend more time in American suburbs and small towns. Or in the city for that matter. Not two blocks ago, I saw a woman who was so disgustingly fat that I could not believe it. But that was inside the confines of a hospital. She was probably from the suburbs of some little town.

Of course men have a problem with lust. If there are any vertebrate species where the male isn't constantly ready to engage in copulation science doesn't know about it. Persumably the last such species went extinct eons ago.

Seeing all the young can do with digital messages and Facebook and nude photo sharing, you have to wonder Why the Catholics can't set up an Internet Confession Blog, The names can be changed to protect the guilty, and absolution can be payed for on Paypal for the Papal. Of course,they would need to filter out the Althouse Commenters to prevent crashing their server. But these bugs can be worked out, unless astro-turfing by the pro-choice industry aborts the Church's newborn Blog.

The guy's day job doesn't give his opinions any more authority than yours or mine.

The Pope's day job doesn't give his opinions any more authority than yours or mine. (He's just making shit up like his "personal theologian"--and how can someone who needs a personal theologian become Pope? [yeah, rhetorical question.])

I always aspired to some really cool vice like overweaning ambition. Being described as "mad, bad, and dangerous" or a rakish rogue would also have been nice.... There's a poem where the sinner throws himself before the Lord and proclaims himself a great sinner. The Lord looks down and says "Nonsense little man, you're nothing of the kind". I think my innate sloth precludes any real achievements in the field of evil...I go along with the Pope's theologian, but I think the order changes as you grow older. Old men are sometimes given an unjustified reputation for wisdom and tolerance when they simply lack the energy to chase women or make a fuss.

Joe said (and tibore echoed)... "how can someone who needs a personal theologian become Pope?"

Why does someone who became President of the United States need political advisers? Why is it that these highly learned federal judges need law clerks? Why do tax policy experts still use HR Block?

Simple answer to all these questions: in his infinite wisdom, the Almighty gives each of us, great and small, the same number of hours in the day, but varies the number and magnitude of the tasks we have to complete in each turn of the wheel.

The Pope needs a personal Theologian for the same reason all of us (believers) need Priests. The Pope is said to go to reconciliation (used to be called confession) weekly.

Why would he do that? Because we are all sinners. Even the Pope. This is a fundamental theological belief of the Catholic Church.

As far as this guy's opinion about which sins are more dangerous or difficult sins for either gender, meh, I'd guess he knows a lot more about that than I do, being that he actually listens to confessions as part of his job. I would agree with him that Lust is very difficult for men.

Not sure why Gluttony wouldn't be on the list of difficulties for women. A clue might be in the fact that Gluttony is not just eating too much. Gluttony is the sin of taking more than you need of anything.

But the big kahuna for everyone, the source of original sin, is Pride. A serious examination of conscience on Pride can be very difficult.